


Midsummer tales.

by sonnet_18



Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 18:13:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4446563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonnet_18/pseuds/sonnet_18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aoba has a rough night thanks to Mizuki's story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midsummer tales.

Koujaku couldn’t be anymore content with his life right now. With a full tummy of sliced watermelons and napping on Aoba’s lap, he wishes that this summer evening can last forever. However ever since they played fireworks with Mizuki at the park shamelessly like little kids few hours ago, Aoba’s been acting strange. He looks nervous, quiet and distracted.

_*ting* *ting*_

And tenses up whenever he hears the chime of his wind chime.

“What’s wrong?”, concern, Koujaku sits up on the bed and face his partner.

Caught, the younger man looks away with a blush, “um, Koujaku… Can we take off that wind chime? just for today.”

“Sure, is it too noisy? I thought today was pretty windy and I haven’t brought out that wind chime in a long while.”

“Um… no it’s not noisy or anything but… it bothers me. Because of what Mizuki told me.”

Koujaku blinks as Aoba blushes harder.

“You know…“, the youth scratch the back of his neck under the short hair, "the one he talked about the girl and her… you know, the bangle.”

Koujaku tilt his head to the side and then recognition fill his crimson eyes, "oh! the story about how this woman waited for her man at the forest everyday and lost her life. It’s a sad tale rather than a scary one, Aoba.”

Aoba pouts, “it is a scary story! The way Mizuki tell the ending give me the shivers even until now.” he hugs himself with a mild tremor.

Koujaku chuckles and pull Aoba into a hug, “don’t worry, it’s only a made up tale. I’ve been hearing the same tale since several years ago and believe me people have their fun changing the plot to be so exaggerating.”

Aoba still didn’t look convince to relax but he does enjoy leaning against the older man for comfort, “well if you say so…”

“Okay, it’s getting late. Will you stay over for the night?”

Aoba nods, he doesn’t even want to walk home alone across the dark alley by himself. Plus he doesn’t want to trouble Koujaku to send him home when he had a long day.

“Yeah, my spare clothes are still here right? I’ll stay.”

Koujaku answers him with a dazzling grin and a peck to the lips, “okay, go take a shower then. I’ll take off the wind chime and close the window. Then we’ll go to sleep.”

Aoba nods, appreciating that his lover is so considerate tonight instead of being a tease. Aoba knew maybe Koujaku wanted to make love before they sleep but didn’t say anything about it. He’s possibly waiting for Aoba to initiate their intimate moment but to be honest currently Aoba’s not in the right mood to fully enjoy their private time.

Once done with his shower, Aoba wears one of Koujaku’s shirt to sleep. It’s baggy but comfy and so comfortable to sleep in. Waiting for his lover to finish showering, Aoba expected Koujaku to touch him. Instead when the older man climb in the bed, he just lay close next to the youth with a sleepy smile.

“Good night.”

“Hnn, night…”

They share a kiss but it didn’t escalate into something more. Aoba’s tired too and he thought maybe tonight he can sleep early without thinking too much about Mizuki’s tale.

But two hours later, he couldn’t be anymore awake.

On the bed, Aoba keeps tossing left to right with a huff. Unable to sleep even when  the time shows it’s past midnight.

_“….. she was his wife, although not as young and beautiful, she still loved him. He promised to stop seeing other woman and gave her a bangle with a bell attached to it as his oath…”_

Mizuki’s words echoes in Aoba’s mind.

_“… he told her he’ll break up with his mistress. But the mistress has an ailing mother, he wanted to help her before they part. The wife has such kind soul she willingly sell away her beautiful heirloom kimono. Just so that the money can be given to buy medicine… What the wife did not expect was another betrayal from her bastard of a husband again. He ran away with his mistress after taking the money! There was no ailing mother at all, it was a fake tale to swindle the wife from her riches…_

_”…The wife waited and waited for her husband’s return. Believing that he was not cruel at all despite their neighbour’s protests. She insists he has his reasons because he gave her this bell bangle as a symbol of his oath. She would wait for him at the forest where they first met._

_“Everyday without fail. With each step she walked anyone can faintly hear the jingle of her bangle. If the jingle of her bell sounds loud, they knew she’s nearby. If it’s far, she’ll be at the other far side near the lake. Everyday they can hear her jingling bell as she walked, a reminder of a foolish woman waiting for the return of an underserving man.“_

Aoba looks up at the ceiling with a heavy sigh. Whether he wants it or not, his mind vividly recall Mizuki’s tale. This time extra scary as Koujaku has turn off the night lamp and he’s the only one awake in this room.

_"But one rainy night, the bell stops. Initially they thought she finally gave up but the next day when they couldn’t find her, they started searching. Only to find out she fell off the slippery slope and lost her life from a broken neck.  The state of her body was a horrible mess. She clutched her cheap bangle tight with blood tears down her cheeks. It was only for a night she went missing but her hair turned all white. Like a monster with hollow face and pale skin.”  
_

_"They said one heard a voice… they swear they can hear her voice her dead lips. ‘I’ll find you… my love.’”_

_“Since then they say on a rainy night, if you hear a jingle of a bell, listen carefully. If the bell sounds louder and nearer…. until it suddenly stops, it means SHE is right behind you. Thinking you are her husband and will drag you to the underworld where you will be with her together, forever…”_

As if waiting on cue, Aoba can hear the pitter patter of rain splatter against the closed windows.

Wonderful, it starts to rain.

_***Brooommmm*** _

And thunderstorm, too. Just great.

He scoots closer to the sleeping Koujaku and avoid staring up at the window because whenever it flashes, Aoba doesn’t want to accidentally see the silhouette of an old woman.

But damn it, Aoba wants to go to the toilet so bad! It’s because he drank too much green tea and he don’t think he can hold on until morning!

Huffing with a mild annoyance, the youth sits up and gets out of bed. The faster he finish his business, the quicker her return back to Koujaku’s safe side.

“Calm down, just calm down… it’s only the rain and a bit of thunder. Nothing serious… I can do this…”

Aoba’s tempted to get Ren and bring him to the toilet but changes his mind because that’s too embarrassing. He’s not a kid anymore and he can go to the toilet alone just fine! Nervously humming a track from Goatbed, Aoba dashes to the water closet but careful not to make too much noise as to wake his lover. A few minutes later, relieved of his needs, Aoba retrace his steps to go back to Koujaku’s bedroom. A loud booming thunder causes the youth to jump a bit as he quicken his pace across the hall. Keeping his gaze down as he avoid any view of the mirror or windows.

“It’ll be fine… it’s not like I hear any jingling bells… Koujaku took off the chime and—”

_“Ting~”_

“Oh…”

_“Ting~ Ting~”_

“ shit…”

A loud thunder bellow from the sky as if it strike the roof! Suddenly darkness was all Aoba can see.  
  
“Ah! the lights!”

Surrounded by darkness, Aoba sighs.

“Can this night get any worse?”

He can’t use his coil’s screen light to navigate his way across the hall. So instead he follow his memory with a hand against the wall, feeling his way until he reach the kitchen.

“I think I remember Koujaku stored some candles at this drawer…. ah! got it! Now where did he put the….”  
  
 _*Ting~*_  
  
“ l…. lighter…?”  
  
Lightning flashes from the kitchen window again to illuminate clearly what he saw.

Aoba turn his head slowly to see…  A figure with long hair as white as paper stood by the wall… staring at him with blood shed eyes…

***TINGGG***

“GYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

“Aoba!!”

Within seconds Koujaku ran from his room to the kitchen and turn on the kitchen lights!

“Aoba! Aoba, are you okay? what happened?”

He hugs the shivering youth protectively as he assess the situation, nothing out of the ordinary as far as he can see. But Aoba look so pale and scared. Picking up his lover, Koujaku quickly bring him back to their room with the lights on and their Allmates no longer on sleep mode.

“Aoba? are you okay?”, Ren asks with hid paws on Aoba's knees.

Aoba picks up the bundle of fluff and hugs him.

“I… I saw…”

Koujaku pull him into his arms, “what? a thief?”

“N-no… her… that woman in… in the story…”

Koujaku became serious and translate that as someone may have tried to trespass his home, “how does she look like?”

Aoba gulps at the memory, “w-white hair…. pale skin… one… one red eye…”

“Eh? are you talking about my dyed wig hair?”

All sense of fear washes out from Aoba when he heard that, “wait, what did you say? wig?” 

Koujaku chuckles and nod, “yes, I was drying it on a chair. One of my customer wanted to dye her hair red but she has a sensitive skin scalp so I was experimenting which dye products will be suitable for her. I must have forgotten to store away the equipment, I’m sorry.”

Feeling relief that indeed it was just his imagination for mistaking a silly wig for the real thing, Aoba melts in Koujaku’s arms.

“I’m tired…” he sighs heavily with eyes close. Koujaku’s scent smells so good.

“Then sleep, I’ll watch over you.”

Aoba nods and they both lie on the bed again. This time Koujaku hugs Aoba close in his embrace with a kiss on his lover’s forehead.

Finally the exhaustion catches up with Aoba that he immediately doze off.

******

That morning, Koujaku tip toe his way out the bedroom and leave Aoba to sleep longer on the bed. Arriving at the kitchen, he was surprise to see a few candles dropped to the floor. Why was Aoba reaching for this? was there an electricity outage last night? but he turned on the kitchen lights just fine.

Turning his gaze to the wall, he saw his newly purchased wig and the bottle of dye. Remembering what Aoba said last night, Koujaku makes a mental note to talk to Mizuki about scary tales around Aoba.

But at least Mizuki left out the scarier part of the story.

That the wife is extremely jealous of people who are happy and in love. As if for revenge, she’ll trail after these people like a vengeful spirit.

“Huh? What’s this?”

Koujaku bends down when he caught something shiny on the floor.

“A…. bell?”

It’s small, no larger than the size of a thumb’s nail. It’s ancient and worn out as if detached from a necklace of sort.

But it jingles with each movement as clear as day.

_*Ting~*_

_——–_

_——————–_

_——————————-_

END?

**Author's Note:**

> I swear I plan to write a hurt comfort oneshot kind of thing but end up not really achieving the goal Orz. This oneshot is based on two eerie manga stories I read awhile ago. I hope you were entertained when reading this, thank you!


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